‘But Among you it will be different’ – Jesus, in Mark 10:42
Game night. My family gathered around the table. On the menu is Forbidden Island, a cooperative adventure game in which players work together to find four magical treasures before the island on which they lie sinks into the sea. Each player picks a character with special powers to help in the quest. It’s a great game and my family always has a wonderful time with it. If you’ve never played, you should check it out. It’s a terrific way to teach your family the value of working together.
Trouble is, this time, the kids got into an argument right at the outset. My ten-year-old son Caleb had his heart set on us searching for treasure as four particular characters, believing his combination would make the game more challenging. My thirteen-year-old daughter, Kaeleigh, however, did not like that Caleb was choosing everyone’s character for them. She wanted to pick her own.
Enter chaos.
‘I want to play with these four characters!’
‘You’re being a dictator! We should each get to pick our own roles!’
‘Mom and Dad don’t care which ones they play with, why should you?!’
‘Because I do!’
‘Okay, which one do you want to be?’
Oddly, Kaeleigh chose the very character Caleb had picked out for her.
‘What!’ Caleb screamed. ‘Why are we arguing! If that’s who you wanted, what’s the big deal! Why on earth didn’t you just accept who I picked out for you!’
‘Because you don’t get to choose for someone else! Everyone should be able to pick for themselves! Everyone should have equal rights! Blame Dad, he’s the one who taught me about fairness and equality!’ (I was proud to hear her say that!).
And that’s when Caleb, desperate to win the argument, said some ridiculous, yet unfortunately descriptive things about the world.
‘Fairness! Equality! What on earth are you talking about? There’s no such thing as fairness or equality! Think about it! Sexism! Racism! Why do you think there are poor people? Nothing’s fair in this world! How can you talk to us about equality?!’
And there it was – a teachable moment. Cooperative play wasn’t the only lesson my family would get that night from Forbidden Island. I could sense my son’s pain as he spoke the words about the world he knows and has every reason to be concerned about. I knew that deep down he didn’t believe we should mirror that world but was only trying to win the argument. But still, there were some things that needed to be said.
‘Caleb,’ I said, ‘you are right. Equality isn’t easily found in the world. It breaks my heart, as I know it does yours, but yes, there is sexism. There is racism. People do not share the way they should. The world is blatantly unfair.’
‘Exactly!’
‘But both of you, listen: in this house, we practice equality. In this house, we stand against racism and sexism. In this house, we share. And not just in our house. In our church too. Why? Because we follow Jesus. Jesus practices equality and wants us to do so as well. We do if for Him, we do it for ourselves, and we do it so that the world around us, as unequal and unfair as it is, gets to see a better way. As followers of Jesus, it is our responsibility to live this way, no matter how people around us are living. We must live differently.’
Caleb didn’t like losing the argument, but he had to admit I was right. ‘Okay. I can’t argue with that. From now on I’ll let everyone pick their own characters.’
And so the game began (sadly, the island sank on us before we retrieved all four treasures, but hey, there’s always next time).
The next day I thought more deeply about my words. I believe they pretty much sum up what it means to live as a citizen of Jesus’ Kingdom. We live in a fallen world, where oh so much is wrong. Much of which we can do little about, just as in the days of the early Church, there was little Christians then could do create immediate change in their world. There’s was a world of inequality and unfairness. A world of oppression and persecution. A world of hatred and violence. Not all that different from our own. So what did the Christians do?
They lived differently.
In a world where equality was a joke, they insisted that in Christ, there were no distinctions, neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female. All were one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28).
In a world of violence, they refused to wage war, employing instead weapons not of this world – such as prayer and enemy love – to overcome the forces arrayed against them (2 Corinthians 10:3-4).
In a world where the ‘have’s’ accumulated while the ‘have not’s’ wanted, they shared their resources to the extent there was not a needy person among them, choosing to consider their possessions the common property of all (Acts 4:32-37).
In a world of hopelessness, they hoped (Romans 8:25).
In a world where the powerful lorded authority over their subjects, they followed the path of servant love (Mark 10:42-45).
In a world that was sinking, they worked together to stay afloat (Ephesians 4:16).
In a world that took up the sword, they took up the Cross (Mark 8:34).
In short, in a world where the shadows not only existed but deepened, they insisted on being the light.
This is still our call today. No matter how unequal, unfair, unjust, or unpeaceable the world around us may be, we who follow Christ must live differently. We must live as citizens of the Kingdom and show the world the way things will one day be.
Most especially when the island seems to be sinking.
Under Christ’s Mercy,
Brent